Virtual Reality (VR) in your suitcase: Lowering the entry point to VR adoption for immersive planning of urban street interventions.

forthcoming

We aim at creating a Proof of Concept for an Urban Immersive Street Environment intervention VR Package (UrbanISE VR) that converts our existing research VR environment, developed through the GREENTRAVEL Project, into a portable VR-in-a-suitcase solution. The UrbanISE VR solution will support easy implementation and testing of various street intervention plans in an immersive and realistic VR environment, which allows the user to move through alternative street designs in different seasons and weather conditions. Instead of replicating existing cityscapes, which is very costly and time consuming, our idea builds on a set of imaginary “neutral streets”, which can be easily modified to test for various interventions (street greenery assemblages, street infrastructure, advertisement visibility, etc.) safely and comfortably from the saddle of a stationary bike. The idea takes a leap forward across five fronts compared to existing 3D and VR products used in urban planning: 1) Technological advantages (highly optimized, light weight and movable VR setup), 2) Usability (user friendliness, easy to learn and modify) 3) Realism of conditions (season, weather, light, noise), 4) Safe and comfortable immersion experience (setup optimised for a standard bike), and, 5) Scalability (imaginary street settings that offer cost-efficiency). The ‘suitcase’ will consist of readymade hyper-realistic streetscapes, collections of seasonal assets (e.g. street trees and vegetation), and a software setup optimised for a laptop, combining VR glasses and bike trainer where a standard bike can be installed. The solution will serve urban planners and urban planning consultants, but may also be used by research groups that strive for testing alternative street designs and interventions through immersive experiences.